They are said to be Bain Capital, which has invested in companies including business networking site LinkedIn; a group led by TPG and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners; and a consortium of private equity firms Apollo Management and Zelnick Media.

Reed Elsevier has attempted to sweeten a deal for its trade magazine business by offering a vendor loan to finance the sell-off worth more than $300m (£189m).

Smith will receive a base salary of £900,000 and will take part in the company's bonus and long-term incentive scheme under which, if targets are met, he will receive an additional reward of three times his salary.

"Ian Smith is an outstanding business leader who will build on Reed Elsevier's strong foundations of global leadership positions, a growing digital presence and a dynamic management team," said the Reed Elsevier chairman, Jan Hommen.

Smith has previously been chief executive of General Healthcare Group and logisitics company Exel, as well as European chief executive of strategy consulting firm Monitor.